I would like to be a snowbird.

William and I have a dream. That the kids will take over the farming. He and I will travel and pop back in the fall to help harvest. I'm willing to wait 'til after they go to college. But I fear they will not return. The ungrateful kids will say we worked them to hard and want an office job. William and I will be doomed to mid-west winters the rest of our days.

Good Riddance to the old year!

Shall it ne'er be repeated. I did learn a few things about harvesting in the snow and ice. And what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger or builds character or just makes us older or wish we died.  Can't remember which.

I am so glad we got all the corn hauled out of the bins. Now the cows are starting to calve. The first calf was named Jalapeno. Looks like it will be a Jeff Dunham year for naming calves. William took the Greenstar monitor out of the cab of the combine and put it away in its case. You would think it was made of gold, the price of that thing. I also made an appointment to take the BGC in for its once a year check up. She was running good when we put her away but it's good to have the guys give her a go thru to make sure everything is ready for next year.

Pheasant Farm

We have a field by this pheasant hatchery. It is interesting to see so many pheasants running around in one area. You might see one in a field. I know of a few that escaped to freedom because I ran them out of the field with BGC. The manager here said these birds will all be gone in Jan. to make room for the next crop of pheasants.

I almost cried

We finished 2009 harvest at 3:pm on Dec. 13. It is still all a blur. From the first day we used BGC and it's full bin alarm didn't go off (center picture), to the 10 inches of rain with in a few days, elevators closing at 10:am, to a neighbor being crushed by his tractor, bins braking down, more rain, learning a new combine and mapping program. Then harvesting in snow and negative wind chills. One for the books and so glad it is over. Now we are helping a few other guys to finish up their fields and starting to haul the corn out of the bins.

A coupla firsts this week

We are on our last field to harvest. As of this morning there are about 140 acres left. It is testing 23% and yeilding pretty good. I am not able to drive faster than 4 mph. Plus this spring William had to plant around a bunch of wet areas so the rows go every direction. This field has got it all sand hills, a creek thru the middle, terraces, water ways, dry dam, seeps, and mud holes.

Getting to the first times:
This is the first time I harvested on my birthday and will on William's birthday Saturday. With the negative temps, this is the first time we have plugged in a combine. We had to call the dealer to find out where the plug in was. We ran a block of ice corn out of the auger getting the combine ready. That would be a first also.

Back at it today.

An Inch of Snow

Woke up to an inch of snow this morning. Doesn't seem like much but after picking enough to fill the straight truck the seives were covered with snow. So we stopped and brought took the combine and grain cart home since the forecast is for rain/snow mix tonight and tomorrow. More delays to an unending season.

Found a solution

I found this backseat organizer at Kmart for $7 made by caselogic. It has about 6 different size pockets and is thin enough to fit behind the seat hanging from the coat hook. I've been putting my sunglasses, mp3 player, gloves, water bottle, ect. And next to it is my phone inside the ash tray. I think it is perfect. Will be moving it to the car when we are done harvesting.